Outdoor furniture typically is designed and constructed to withstand reasonable exposure to the elements. Nevertheless, when such furniture is left exposed to the elements for even a few days, it may be covered with dirt, grime and debris. The problem is particularly acute where the furniture is out in the open, but can be quite annoying even where the furniture is partly protected, as under an open porch roof, for example. Where the furniture is thus exposed to the action of the elements, it frequently will be necessary to wipe off or even wash the furniture before use, greatly inhibiting its spontaneous utilization.
Pursuant to the present invention, an outdoor chair or the like is constructed in a unique and advantageous manner, so as to accommodate and provide for the use of an individual, self-storing weather cover, which may be quickly and easily put into place after use of the chair, and just as easily removed and self-stored when the furniture is to be used. Pursuant to the invention, a chair body is designed and constructed so as to be relatively weather-tight along the bottom, back and sides. To greatest advantage, this can be accomplished by forming the chair body of single-piece construction, such as a molding of plastic or fiberglass reinforced plastic, or a metal stamping, for example. The chair body is so designed and constructed as to receive over the top and front a self-storing cover which, when moved into covering position, serves to seal off in a substantially weather-tight manner the top and front of the chair body, so that the entire unit is substantially weather-tight.
In one of its more simplified and advantageous forms, the chair body is so constructed that its sides extend in a generally straight line from the upper edge of the chair back to the front edge of the chair bottom, so as to lie generally in a common plane with those two edges. A weather cover of generally flat form may then be placed over the top-front of the chair to completely enclose the seat and back rest area.
Pursuant to one of the more specific aspects of the invention, a generally flat weather cover may be provided, which is in the form of a rigid, molded or shaped, self-supporting panel, which can be snapped in place over the front of the chair during periods of nonuse. When the chair is to be used, the cover panel is simply snapped off and placed in a storage position extending downward along the back of the chair support.
In accordance with another specific aspect of the invention, the weather cover may take the form of a self-coiling plastic sheet mounted in a manner to form a tambour-type cover. In its self-storing position, the cover is contained in coiled form in a cylindrical housing extending along the top of the chair back. The cover is brought into operative position by being withdrawn downwardly, much in the manner of a window shade, and being guided and confined along the side edges of the chair. In its fully extended position, the tambour cover extends to the front lower edge of the chair and completely encloses the seat and back rest area.
Pursuant to another aspect of the invention, the self-storing cover is generally semi-cylindrical in form and has side walls which extend to and are pivoted by the sides of the chair body. The dimensions of the cover are such that, when it is pivoted into its operative position, it completely encloses the open side of the chair, and the side walls of the cover extend down at least to and preferably slightly below the upper edges of the chair sides. For utilization, the cover is merely pivoted upwardly and rearwardly, being stored in back of and underneath the chair body. In this last described embodiment of the invention, the chair body is supported from the front only, so that the back of the chair is open and clear to receive the pivoting cover.